What an interior design quotation should actually itemise

A quotation is not a price. It is a claim about a specific amount of work, in specific materials, done in a specific way — and the number at the bottom only means anything once you know what that claim actually covers. Our note on what drives interior design cost in Kolkata covers why the number moves. This one is about the document itself — how to read it, and what to ask when it doesn't say enough.

Why two honest quotations can differ so much

Two firms can walk the same flat, act in complete good faith, and hand back quotations that look nothing alike — not because one is dishonest, but because each has silently assumed a different amount of work. One may have priced only the joinery and finishes; the other may have included electrical points, false ceiling and painting as part of the same number. Neither quotation is lying. Only one of them is telling you everything.

Scope and drawings

The first thing to check is whether the quotation is priced against a drawing or against a description. “Modular kitchen, L-shaped, with tall units” can mean several different layouts; a plan with dimensions cannot. A quotation tied to an approved drawing is one you can hold a firm to later — one tied to a verbal brief has room to drift in either direction once work starts.

Materials and specification

“Plywood” is not a specification; “19mm BWP plywood, [brand], with a specified laminate finish” is. The gap between those two sentences is exactly where cost hides on both ends — a vague materials line can mean a genuinely fair price using a mid-grade board, or it can mean room to substitute a cheaper one after the contract is signed, with no way to prove which was promised. Ask for the grade, and ideally the brand, of anything structural: carcass board, plywood grade, laminate or veneer type, and hardware brand and model. Our note on materials that survive Kolkata's climate sets out what each grade actually means in practice.

Quantities

A rate without a quantity is not a total. A laminate rate quoted by area only becomes a real number once multiplied by an agreed area, and that area should be stated in the document, not estimated later from the finished work. Running length of cabinetry, area of false ceiling, and count of electrical points are the three quantities most often left vague, and the three most often disputed once the site work is underway.

Labour and site work

Design and material cost are only two of the three components in most quotations — the third is the labour to actually install everything, which is sometimes itemised and sometimes folded silently into the material rate. Ask directly whether fitting, civil work, electrical and plumbing labour are included or charged separately, and if separately, on what basis — a fixed sum, or time and material. A quotation that is silent on labour is not necessarily hiding it, but you should know before you sign, not after.

Exclusions and assumptions

The exclusions section is arguably more informative than the inclusions — it tells you what the firm assumed was someone else's responsibility. Common exclusions worth confirming either way: structural or civil work beyond a stated scope, main electrical panel or wiring upgrades, painting outside the rooms listed, false ceiling in rooms not named, curtains and soft furnishings, and appliances. None of these being excluded is unusual or dishonest — the problem is only ever a quotation that doesn't say.

Taxes and other charges

Confirm plainly whether the quoted figure is inclusive or exclusive of GST, and whether any delivery, transport or site-access charges sit outside the headline number. A quotation that reads lower only because tax and logistics are added afterward is not actually the lower quotation.

Change handling and payment stages

Two questions are worth asking of any firm, including this one, before work begins: how is a change to the agreed scope priced and approved once work has started, and what are the payment stages tied to — a calendar, or actual milestones reached? A quotation silent on either is not automatically a problem, but it is a conversation worth having in writing before the first payment, not after the first disagreement.

What a suspiciously low quotation usually omits

When one quotation for the same brief comes in well below the others, the honest possibilities are limited: a genuinely leaner design, a lower material or hardware grade than the others assumed, labour or civil work excluded and to be arranged separately, or a smaller scope than it appears to be — fewer running feet of cabinetry, less false ceiling, fewer electrical points, described in language similar enough to the higher quotations that the difference isn't obvious on a first read. The number itself never tells you which. Reading every quotation against the same checklist above does.

The point of all of this is not suspicion — it is comparability. A firm that answers these questions plainly, in writing, before work starts, is behaving exactly as it should. For how this fits into a real project from first conversation onward, see our note on what happens in a design consultation, or start one directly from residential interior design if the project is a home, or commercial interior design if it's a workplace.